You Can Pay A Professional Cuddler For Snuggles

Have you ever found yourself in a new city, where you don't know anyone, and just wish you could have a hug? Well, now there's a business for that: professional cuddlers.

Hug It Out

Who doesn't like a good cuddle session? That's the question a number of companionship businesses and freelance cuddlers are asking potential clients. The idea behind this profession, in which people are paid to platonically snuggle up with strangers, is that humans have an innate desire for contact but not everyone experiences human touch on a regular basis. According to these businesses, clients include lonely people looking for human contact or someone to talk to, PTSD sufferers, physical abuse victims, people with cerebral palsy or ALS, and individuals who simply find cuddling to be therapeutic. Workers in the "companionship industry" state that with the popularity of digital connections, in-person human contact is especially rare. They also say that most of their clients are male, because male friendships tend to include less physical contact than female friendships.

Starbucks For Hugs

According to The Atlantic, professional cuddlers go for $60 to $80 an hour, and some say their service is even better than getting a hug from a friend. "We have this emotional reciprocity and emotional baggage attached to friends and family," Samantha Hess, a professional cuddler, told the magazine. "I don't have emotional history since I am a stranger, so there is no worry that I will judge them."